Blogger Casey Malone deserves the kudos for reading this pickup artist nonsense and bringing it to the attention of the appalled Internet: originally published as a nine-part series on Reddit, Above The Game teaches men to blast past all barriers of consent with “aggressively escalated” physical touching of women, also known to non-rapists as sexual assault. It’s more about teaching men how to control and manipulate women than it is offering harmless romantic advice. For example, here’s a quote advocating non-consensual grabbiness:

All the greatest seducers in history could not keep their hands off of women. They aggressively escalated physically with every woman they were flirting with. They began touching them immediately, kept great body language and eye contact, and were shameless in their physicality. Even when a girl rejects your advances, she KNOWS that you desire her. That’s hot. It arouses her physically and psychologically.

No … that’s creepy. You are CREEPY, dudes. Resistance or rejection are never signals to try harder (or throw a tantrum); they’re signals to stop. Even women who are turned on by dominance during sex want everything we do to be consensual, with a partner we desire. Not some entitled creeper who foisted himself upon us.

Oh, but it gets better.

Hoinsky’s advice doesn’t just stop at advising men to keep touching women, regardless of whether she “rejects” your advances (i.e. gives you a shove). He says to escalate the assault further by making her grope you. Yes, really:

Pull out your cock and put her hand on it. Remember, she is letting you do this because you have established yourself as a LEADER. Don’t ask for permission, GRAB HER HAND, and put it right on your dick.”

Real talk? “Don’t ask for permission” is a one-way ticket to Rapeville. Although, whoever is following this “advice” is an idiot who is better off behind bars, no?

Or how about this one offering tips on secluded locations that you can take women to, um, “seduce” her:

Get creative and really think about all the different locations you can get alone after hours. Is there an isolated beach nearby? Great, go put a couple beach towels in the trunk of you car. Do the seats of your car lay down? Great. Have keys to your office after-hours? Fan-fucking-tastic! And of course you can always try to go to her place (but then you give up a tremendous amount of logistical control, so tread carefully.)

But why did Kickstarter allow a fundraiser advocating sexual assault to be posted on its site? The project raised over $16,000 as of this writing. That’s why it’s important to sign this DoSomething.org petition asking Perry Chen, the CEO of Kickstarter, to take down the project, refuse to issue Hoinsky the funds, and publicly apologize for posting the project on Kickstarter in the first place. We’ve signed it and we hope our readers will, too.

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Birthdays

On this day, March 19, in 1933, Philip Roth was born in Newark, New Jersey (which was to factor greatly as the setting for his acclaimed 1969 novel Portnoy’s Complaint). His first book, a collection of fiction which he called Goodbye, Columbus, won the National Book Award in 1960; the novella of the same name from that collection was later made into a movie which ended up being one of the most popular films of 1969. He also won the National Book Award in 1995 for Sabbath’s Theater, and in 1997 won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for American Pastoral. Many of his books dealt with autobiographical themes and the Jewish-American experience; today he turns 85.